The prior art contains many types of docking stations for mobile computing devices. Many of these stations, however, are not well suited for use under a monitor.
For example, some docking stations require vertical alignment of a mobile computing device with the docking station prior to docking. This arrangement is disadvantageous because there is often insufficient space between the bottom of a monitor stand and a desktop to readily achieve vertical alignment. In addition, some docking stations have motors for automatic docking or rely on complicated mechanical linkages to achieve same. These docking stations tend to be disadvantageous because they are physically large (often too tall for use under a monitor), they are prone to mechanical failure, and/or they tend to be undesirably expensive.
Another general disadvantage of prior art docking stations is that they do not provide an uninterrupted power supply. Though docking stations with docked mobile computing devices are often connected in a computer network where the network server is provided with an uninterrupted power supply so that data transmission and file status are not corrupted, the docking stations and accompanying mobile computing devices are not. Thus, significant likelihood of occasional power failure and data loss is present.